The Shepherd Who Gets It Right

Transcript

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[0:00] So our reading today is from Jeremiah. And I want to say a few words of introduction first. This is Christ the King Sunday, as Victoria mentioned. It's the last day of the liturgical year which we use. So it's offset from our calendar year just by a bit. So basically, this is New Year's Eve, last day of the year. And there's champagne in the narthex afterwards. We're going to pop it off, right? And then next week is New Year's Day. And that's the first Sunday of Advent. So Advent is the beginning of the liturgical year. Here, you may be asking yourself, what is Christ the King Sunday? Why does it exist? Well, it was actually established by Pope Pius XI in 1925. It's a recent, it's a 101-year-old tradition now. In response to growing secularism and nationalism in Europe after World War I. Isn't that interesting? And as we know, nationalism in Europe was a problem before World War I. And it was a bigger problem after World War I. And... Despite what Pope Pius did, it wasn't enough to stave off intense nationalism that erupted into World War II. But it was, I guess, a good try. And so, you may ask, why are we doing a Catholic thing? The liturgical calendar we have is one form of Christian unity that we have across denominations.

[1:18] And so we have this same three-year cycle of readings as the Catholics do. The Baptists, the Presbyterians, the Lutherans, the Covenant. Not everybody does it, but a lot of Protestant. And Catholic churches do this. It's a great sign of Christian unity. And so we have no problem accepting Christ the King Sunday into our liturgical calendar. Even though its origin was with a Pope. No problem. It's good. And actually, the idea is good. That Christ is the King. He reigns supreme at the end. So at the end of the liturgical year, we make note that Christ is the King and ruler over everything. And as the first reading said, supreme in all things and all the fullness of God was pleased. To dwell in Him bodily. Everything that exists came about because of Him. And everything holds together because of Him and in Him. So here we are.

[2:09] And so we're reminded today that Christ is the King. Christ reigns. And in our reading today, which is the appointed Old Testament text for this liturgical date, there's this mention of shepherds. And that could take us a little bit in a confused space. But in the time it was written, the shepherds. The shepherd was at one time one of the titles that were used for the kings. So a king was often referred to as a shepherd of their people at that time. And it gets a little confusing because at Advent, we're going to hear that the shepherds had a low reputation. And that's important to remember that in the time Jesus was born, the shepherds didn't have a very high reputation. They weren't trusted. Maybe they were on the wrong side of the tracks. They had a bad job. Whatever. But this is 600 years before Jesus. Jesus was born. At that time in the story of Israel and Judah, shepherds and kings were sort of a related concept. And so today in the scriptures, we're talking about the shepherds. And in our text today, we're going to talk about bad shepherds. And there's these qualities of good shepherds that are also qualities of good kings. And so you kind of think about a good shepherd. What does a good shepherd do?

[3:22] A good shepherd rules over their flock with love. A good shepherd protects his flocks from evil. He protects his flock from bandits and wild animals and dangerous terrain. It doesn't lead his flock into a bad part of land that's full of sinkholes or cactus. I grew up in Arizona, so I would think of it that way. The good shepherd protects the weaker sheep from the stronger sheep. We don't think about that one often. Within the flock, there are some bullies. And the good shepherd has a crook for a reason. It's not just to keep the bear away or the wolf. It's to kind of pull one away from the other one that's being too mean. So in today's passage, God, who's speaking through the prophet Jeremiah, calls the shepherds or the kings of his people to account. They're doing something wrong. We'll see what it is. But he also makes a promise of a new shepherd. So let's go to our reading. It's from Jeremiah.

[4:17] And it goes like this. Verse 1. What sorrow awaits the leaders of my people? The shepherds of my sheep. There you have it right there. It's connected. The leaders are the shepherds. For they have destroyed and scattered the very ones they were expected to care for, says the Lord.

[4:41] Therefore, this is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says to those shepherds. Instead of caring for my flock and leading them to safety, you have deserted them and driven them to destruction. Now I will pour out judgment on you for the evil you have done to them.

[5:04] But I will gather together the remnant of my flock from the countries where I have driven them. I will bring them back to their own sheepfold, and they will be fruitful and increase in number. Then I will appoint responsible shepherds who will care for them, and they will never be afraid again. Not a single one will be lost. I, the Lord, have spoken. For the time is coming, says the Lord, when I will raise up a righteous descendant from King David's line. He will be a king who rules with wisdom. He will do what is just and right throughout the land. And this will be his name. The Lord is our righteousness. In that day Judah will be saved, and Israel will live in safety. Let's pray.

[5:54] Heavenly Father, thank you. Thank you for your word. Thank you for the promise of the good shepherd in the line of the King David. And we pray you add your blessing to what is said next. And we ask it in Jesus' name. Amen.

[6:08] Well, I want to locate this a little bit more in history and just briefly put on your history cap. Very interesting stuff. I guarantee you it's super interesting. I mean it. The shepherds that Jeremiah is mentioning here are most likely the kings of Judah named Jehoiakim. Not to be confused with Jehoiachin. He's a different guy altogether. This is Jehoiakim. Okay.

[6:31] Jehoiakim and Zedekiah. Okay. And you can read about them in other books of the Old Testament. They were not good kings. And in short, these were kings that were guilty of idolatry, worshipping the wrong God, or allowing idolatry to take place in their kingdoms and not stopping it. Like, oh, let's let it go. Heavy taxation of the people. Unjust taxation. Not good. Which also was kind of related to greed. And rejecting God's prophets. So really not listening to God as he spoke to them through the prophets. Ignoring the prophets or even victimizing the prophets. And so Jehoiakim was condemned for killing a prophet named Uriah. He actually killed a prophet. And they didn't treat Jeremiah well. They didn't treat a lot of them well. So the general sense is that they lost track of their calling as God's shepherds. This was their job. They were supposed to be God's shepherds over the people of Judah. But they got caught up into wealth and greed and power games on the regional stage that were ill-advised and foolish. And I'm going to focus on that real quick because I think this is related. Okay? So what do I mean by that?

[7:37] There's not too much of a stretch to say that they engaged in what we could call a sort of foolish nationalism. Which is sort of an unfounded pride in their own country. And hoping that their nation would prosper. And hoping that they would be greater than it was. God often told them, you don't need to be this great nation. You just need to be faithful to me. The rest could follow. But you're in certain sort of geopolitical situations now where you don't need to assert all your independence all the time.

[8:08] And so the reason they didn't like the prophets is because the prophets said, our nation is bad. Right? And if you want to be unpopular in your nation, just say our nation is bad. Or say something bad about the flag. Or say something bad about, you know what I mean? Like, you'll be seen as a traitor then. And so they punished the prophets partly because they called out their greed and their idolatry and their wickedness. But also because the prophets said, you don't, you're kind of not that big of a deal. Deal with it. You know, you're not that great. It's okay. You know? God says, God says we have a place in this world and it's not way up here. You know? And that was unpopular. So.

[8:51] There was, I think you could say this. And they wanted to make these kings, Jehoiakim, Zedekiah, they wanted to make their nation great again. Let's make Israel great again. Does that sound, kind of sound familiar? And I guarantee you, if I was preaching this same sermon 20 years ago, I would say it exactly the same way. It actually is just kind of an, kind of an accident that it sounds like something else. But they wanted to make it great again. What do I mean by that? There was a time when Israel was greater. A time in their history.

[9:26] During the reign, the end of the reign of King David and basically most of the reign of King Solomon, two things had happened. Two things were in effect. One was the kingdom was more or less united then. At this time when Jeremiah is speaking to these kings, there were two kingdoms. Judah in the south. The other country was called Israel, which is always confusing. Because sometimes we think of Israel as the whole thing. But Israel was the northern kingdom in the north. They had different kings, different armies, different things. And actually at this point, the northern kingdom was gone. It had been taken away by the Assyrians. Subsequently, the Assyrians had been taken over by the Babylonians. And now the Babylonians were going to come and get Judah, the southern kingdom. But there was a time, the old days, the good old days, the good old days, the nostalgic days, when Solomon was king. They were powerful. They were prosperous. There was a lot of wealth. This was partly a result of Solomon being a wise and good king at first until a lot of idolatry came in through his many, his 700 wives and 300 concubines, or maybe I have that reversed. Right?

[10:36] I think it was 300 wives and 700 concubines. It doesn't matter. It's too many. Too many. Too much trouble in that house, I think. For all sorts of reasons. But those were the good old days. And actually, it wasn't just one. It was a lot of wealth and power. But the boundaries of the land were bigger then. They owned parts of southern Lebanon. They owned parts all past the Jordan River. Traditionally, the Jordan had kind of been the boundary, but they had owned some land past of it. They owned all of the Negev. And so people look back at that and go, oh, the good old days when the country was bigger, when the country was richer, when it was feared from abroad. And I remember once visiting. I went on a sort of a missions trip to Lithuania.

[11:21] And Lithuania is a very small country now, one of the Baltic states. It actually at one point in its history, one brief shining moment, several hundred years ago, it was bigger. It encompassed parts of Poland. It encompassed actually parts of Russia. It encompassed parts of other places all around it. And there was this public square where somebody, I guess the government, had put up a fountain and there was a plaque. And on the plaque was a map of Lithuania. But not the current little triangular shaped Lithuania now, which is probably about the size of Massachusetts or something. George would know. How big is it, George? A little bigger than Massachusetts. Not that big. But the map at this fountain on this plaque showed the extent of Lithuania at its largest. The good old days. Countries do this. And one of the guides I was with, this is true, looked at that and actually said, ah, yeah, the good old days when we were bigger and more powerful. Do you see how this works? So these kings, this was part of their problem. Like, let's go back to the big days. And they were kind of getting themselves involved in some geopolitical things that they shouldn't have gotten involved in. Now, what they didn't want to hear, probably, or they didn't understand,

[12:50] was that Solomon's borders extended so far because his reign, partly because he was wise, it got so big and so powerful, but partly because that moment in history when Solomon was reigning was sort of a unique moment in time when the two big empires on either side of them were sort of taken up with internal problems of their own. And the two empires I'm talking about are Egypt, to sort of the southwest of them, and Assyria, to the east, northeast and northeast of them, in what we call Mesopotamia, the land between the two rivers, the Tigris and Euphrates. Both of those were internally weak at that time, and so they couldn't exert their influence. This is how empires work, right? They couldn't exert their influence to these smaller, sort of what we call a satrapy or a sort of a vassal state, which Israel often was. And so during that time, Solomon was able to sort of push out against the others and maybe you could even say form a tiny empire of his own. But it was, if it was an empire, it was a very small one. And so that was more of an accident. It's not because they were so great. It was more of an accident. And here's why. This is the archaeological sort of, even the sort of what you would call the agricultural reason

[14:07] why Israel was never going to be a superpower then. Both Egypt, and Mesopotamia, had sort of a secret sauce in them that allowed them to become super powerful empires. Does anyone know what it is? Think back to history. Just take a wild guess.

[14:27] Who said river? Craig, you are so smart! Good job, Craig. Good job. Is that what I said that one time? Well done, Craig. Yeah, rivers! Seriously, there are no rivers to speak of in Israel. There's streams and wells and... But there's no rivers. The Nile River in Egypt, the Tigris and Euphrates in Mesopotamia were this engine that allowed the people in that country to generate food with small effort and move things around, commerce, with smaller effort. Whereas in other countries that didn't have that secret sauce, they spent a lot of their time and energy just trying to make enough food to survive. But if you have this engine like a river, you have a bigger population, you have more food, and you have more of your country's resources that you can devote to research, building pyramids. That was kind of a waste of time, but it kind of created some national identity. Big ziggurats, you know, but also weapons, iron, right? Bronze, chariots, things that win wars. And then you have this huge population that you can press into an army like that because there's one guy at the top who tells everybody else what to do. Do you guys get the idea? Israel could never really compete with these two, and it was sandwiched between them.

[15:44] This is the thing we don't always realize about the history of the Bible. The history of the Bible is here's this small country between these two giant empires, and a lot of their living is just, can they walk this tightrope between them without being destroyed completely? The answer was no. In the end, no, it wasn't, really. It wasn't possible. And God told them this. This is the point. God told them this. This is where they're going. It was that fascinating history? It was super interesting. The rivers, it's the rivers, right on, Craig. Who else said, somebody else said rivers? Christa said rivers. She's so smart. I'm not supposed to say that, it's like inside trading or something, but she is just pretty smart. So she has poor choice in husband, but she's good on everything else. So yeah, anyways, Anyways, making Judah great again, those kings, that was foolishness. That was foolishness and wickedness and idolatrous and greedy. And it was foolish because it was never going to happen. Even one of the best kings that Judah ever had, do you know Josiah? He's always near the top of the list. And it's a great name. It's a great name that I have friends who named their kid Josiah. And I said, why did you name him Josiah?

[17:03] Because he was one of the best kings Israel ever had. Oh, that's sweet. And it's a beautiful name, Josiah. Even Josiah died too young. Josiah did all sorts of great things. He reformed the worship practices in Judah. He found some old books that they had lost. You know, he brought the people back to God. He was one of the best kings they ever had. But he got involved in a battle between Assyria and Egypt. And he died in that battle. And he was warned by the prophets not to go do that. Do you see what I'm saying? Even the best. The best king couldn't help but put their finger into this geopolitical game that wasn't going to help him. It was foolishness.

[17:43] So what is God saying through Jeremiah? You're the shepherds. You're supposed to lead the sheep well. You're not supposed to make the country great again. You're not supposed to be big. You're supposed to love God. You're supposed to follow me. You're supposed to protect the people. And this was not protecting the people.

[18:02] So what does God say then? Through Jeremiah. He says, I'm going to judge you for your wickedness. Especially Zedekiah and Jehoiakim. I'm going to judge you for your wickedness. Zedekiah was really judged. You could read about him. He was the last one. All the things that happened to him right before Jerusalem was overthrown. It's heartbreaking. Heartbreaking. Both of them, it's more complex than they were just bad. They tried sometimes to do the right thing. It's more than just sort of this monolithic they were good or bad. They tried. But it didn't work. It wasn't enough. They were beset by all these other forces. And of their own poor choices.

[18:46] So God says, you're the shepherd. But you've led my sheep to ruin. And so there's a meme out there called, don't put it up yet, called you had one job. You know this you had one job meme? Sometimes it's like there's all these people. There's all these tiles on the floor and they're all in perfect alignment. And there's just one that's like diagonal. And you're like, wow, you had, you know, the tile layer had one job. Seems like they should have gotten it right because it's all very obvious. So Steve's going to show one.

[19:22] Okay. There's the guy. There's the guy. You know, this is not the hardest job in the world. I mean, it could be hard. You have to refill the thing. I don't know. You have to drive it straight. But the other thing is. It's like you do that and then you keep on trucking. Like you just leave it that way. Don't you come back and like try to scrape it off and try again. So you had one job, you know, and that was this guy. It was to do the line straight. But what is God saying to the shepherds? You have one job. Keep the sheep safe. You failed at the one job I gave you. You led them into ruin and destruction. I'm going to scatter them to the nations. The Assyrians came and took the northern. Kingdom. The Babylonians are going to come and they're going to take the southern kingdom. The people are going to be exiled. Jerusalem's walls are going to be torn down. The temple is going to be destroyed brick by brick. The sacred items in the temple that you use to worship me are going to be carried off into captivity. In Ezekiel, it talks about the Shekinah, the presence of God lifting up like a cloud and floating away. So that God's hand of God. God's presence and hand of protection is actually physically picking up and leaving.

[20:42] You had one job. Just to protect the people and you didn't do it. Is this still up there? Okay, good. We don't have to leave it up there, but I kind of like it. Right. So a lot of bad things happen because the shepherds failed. This is heavy stuff. Right. Are we sad? Yes, we should be. I mean, it's depressing stuff. This could have gone differently. This could have been better. Right. But after that, and we'll go back. I can go back to verse three and I'll just read it to you. Steve, if you want to show verse three, that's fine. It can't hurt.

[21:19] This is what it says in verse three. But don't you love it when there's a but? Sometimes the but means that everything came before it gets modified, which is true in English, at least. Right. But even though all that happened, the shepherds were bad. They led the people into destruction. And ruin. But I will gather together the remnant of my flock from the countries where I have driven them. I will bring them back to their own sheepfold and they will be fruitful and increase in number. And then I will appoint responsible shepherds. Good line drawers. Right. I'm going to appoint responsible shepherds who will care for them and they will never be afraid again. That's a promise. Can you believe that promise? They'll never be afraid. Why that? I mean, that's interesting. They will never be afraid again. Not a single one will be lost or missing.

[22:16] I, the Lord, have spoken. It's sort of that punctuation at the end. Like, I mean it. I mean it. None of them will be lost or afraid. So bad news. Yes. Good news. Even better. Right. They're going to come back. The new shepherds will do the one job correctly. Not draw weird lines on the road. Do you ever?

[22:35] And watch those ads on TV and they're offering this great product like a blender or something like that. It looks like junk, you know. And then they're like, if you order now, but wait, there's more. If you order now, we'll send you two of them for the same price. I'm like, what do I need two blenders for? I can only use one. I think I can only use one at a time unless I want to be unsafe. Why do I need two blenders? But wait, there's more. So I need two. I guess I could give one away as a gift. Right.

[23:00] But wait, there's more. And. It's kind of. But when I was a kid, I was like, what, two for the price of one? As an adult, I'm like, wait a second. How cheap is this? This thing must be garbage. But as a kid, I was like, what? That's amazing. So let's try to capture that childhood excitement about the second free blender. And there's a but wait, there's more. Look at verse five. Right. Not only will the people have a better shepherd that is better kings in the future when they're brought back from exiles. But in verse five, it says. For the time is coming, says the Lord, when I will raise up a righteous descendant from King David's line. We're getting into the kingship. He will be a king who rules with wisdom. He will do what is just and right throughout the land. And this will be his name. The Lord is our righteousness.

[23:51] And in that day, Judah will be saved and Israel will be will live in safety. Here we are talking about safety. It's so great. Not about greatness. But about safety. Not about being proud, but about not being afraid. Interesting. Different things that Jesus is promising us or God is promising us through Jesus. So we understand that this is a prophecy about Jesus. We're at the end, but we're also pointing towards Advent next week. Jesus is going to come. He's going to be from the line of David. He's going to do the right thing. But it's different. Right. And when he does come, Jesus comes. He doesn't rule in. He does rule, but not in a way that people thought. Not in a way to make Judah. Great again.

[24:36] His disciples even ask him, like, you know, the nostalgia for the past. Oh, Lithuania was so big back then. You know, King Solomon had it together, whatever. In Acts chapter one, Jesus is about to ascend into heaven. He's talking to the disciples. And one of them says, Lord is now the time when you will restore the kingdom of Israel. They, you know, like they had already gone through the.

[25:04] The death of Jesus, the resurrection, all his teachings. This is really irritating, I think, for him. He's just about to go to heaven. He's like, I'm about to say goodbye. And you're still getting it wrong. Are you about to make Israel great again? You know, is now when you return, restore the kingdom? And he's like, no, listen.

[25:23] And if he were to have more time, I think the elevator was going up and he was kind of like, you know, bye bye. But if he had more time to explain it to them, he just says now is not. Not now. Maybe someday. And I think he would say not in the way you think.

[25:40] Yes, I'm going to come back as king, but not in the way you think. Right. Not in the way of power. Right. So he's he is going to come back as king. He is going to come back as actually kind of in a way as Israel personified, which is fascinating other kind of way of thinking about it. But what he is saying is now is the coming of the kingdom of God in this world. And he talks about the kingdom all the time. This. Especially in parables. Right.

[26:07] And he inaugurates the kingdom of God in himself. But also there's a coming kingdom when he's going to come back and a lot of things are going to be restored then. But as I say, not in the way people thought. Let me put it this way. We talk about the kingdom of God.

[26:22] It's not a political kingdom. It doesn't occupy physical territory. It doesn't reign with physical power or weapons or violence. It's completely different. And the best way to describe it. The kingdom of God. Is. We are living in it now. Is where the gospel of Jesus Christ and his work for us on the cross is preached and heard and lived out in the lives of believers. That's one simple definition of the kingdom of God. Now there's others, but that's one simple definition of the kingdom of God. And in that respect, Christ is reigning over this particular space, kind of in a physical space, but more of a spiritual space. And he reigns over the whole world. But in a spoken way, in a way of belief. Not with. B2 bombers or whatever, whatever army thing you want to put in there. Right. He reigns because of the cross. He reigns because of the sacrifice. He reigns because he's the good shepherd who takes care of the sheep. He reigns because we have him in our hearts and we take him with us everywhere we go. That's the kingdom. And it's it transcends physical boundaries all the time. And it doesn't even respect and nor should it any national boundaries that exist in this world. It's just everywhere. Which is great. Praise God.

[27:34] So that's our king. That's a different kingdom than his disciples understood. It took them a while to figure it out. They did finally figure it out. I think that's our king. And that's the promise. The days are coming and they've already come when Jesus will lay claim to be the shepherd and the king of the world. So what does this mean for us? I mean, there's a million things to ponder. You're like all the history stuff. That's fascinating. But what does it mean for us that Christ is king?

[28:00] Partly it's that we've submitted to him. We've given our lives to him. We've told him. He's in charge. Sometimes you hear people talk about having this sort of throne on your heart and what's on that throne. Could be this, that or the other. Or is it Jesus? That's fine. That's good. That's good. I mean, that's very good. Good for us to think about it that way.

[28:18] But the one thing I want to take away just today. Set aside other lessons for some other time is this idea that's in the scriptures there. You're safe. Jesus being the king of this world means you are safe. You may not feel safe in every aspect of your life. And if we're talking about cancer, if we're talking about people dying, if we're talking about health problems, if we're talking about crime in the world, we don't necessarily feel safe in that respect. But we're safe because we have the king who's the good shepherd who will keep us safe, who will guard his flock, who will do the one job the right way. Right?

[28:56] The old shepherds were bad shepherds. They put the flock at risk. They had one job and they did it. But we have the good shepherd and he loves the sheep. He leaves the 99 and goes looking for the one lost one, you know. And he picks up his wounded sheep and he binds it up and he brings it home on his shoulders. That's the king, the shepherd king, who goes looking for the lost and broken sheep and binds them up and brings them home to safety. Safe in with the rest of the flock. In some warm little cubby. Under a tree in the countryside. And he's safe. He takes that little sheep and he squeezes it in between the two biggest and driest sheep he can find. And he sticks it in there and says, warm up now, little one. I got you home. You're safe. You're safe with the flock now. Right?

[29:48] And I want you to put these two images together. Can you imagine the shepherd with the wounded sheep on his shoulders? And he's kind of got the sheep here and the legs are on the other side and he's kind of holding it like that. And it's almost like this. Like the image of Jesus hanging from the cross, crucified. And it's the same thing. It's the same thing, right? Jesus says the good king and the good shepherd, he lays, the good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. You're safe. The good shepherd has you. The good king has you. And that's Christ the king. That's all one idea. There's a zillion more, like I said, but that's one idea I want to leave us with.

[30:26] We're safe because we have a good king.